While we’ve been exploring, creating, and living life where life finds us, my focus has also been on the little ones and ensuring their lives are as rich as ours. Joy and Cosmo are in their golden years at 10 and 12 years old – equivalent to being 100 and 120 in our years – so they have special needs and have recently each had health challenges that simply mean a weaving in of reflective care has been necessary to become a natural part of our lives like everything else.

I shared about Cosmo recently having gone through allergies that turned into pneumonia and how we got him back to balance again. He continues to do well, and I continue to do my best to keep his allergies at bay, which has been successful. He continues to need me more and more, but he’s happy, spirited, loving as ever, and a healthy little ancient one.

I was just commenting recently on how his fur has evolved since his being with us for nearly a year and a half. When he first came to us his fur was much more coarse and, of course, dirty and matted. He now has beautiful velvety fur nearly matching Joy’s and even his back end he lays on is so clean in comparison and I’ve learned to manage his cycles of matting to keep him looking beautiful. It’s amazing what good care, diet, and nurturing love can do.

And the same has been true with Joy and her recent challenge, in how the right care can make all the difference.

I mentioned in a previous post that she had a health issue come up right after I got a handle on Cosmo’s and he was balanced out again.

I thought I’d share more in detail about that, as I’m always wanting to help others out there with rabbits in understanding and caring for their little ones, as best as possible, through the things that I experience with my rabbits and that I learn. Plus, I like to share how our animal companions reflect so much for our own journeys.

So, I’d noticed Joy had started being more silent…that may sound funny since rabbits don’t make noise, but that doesn’t mean they don’t communicate in their own way. And she had been more internal, spending time off by herself, and just huddled, although was still eating and acting normal in other ways when not off on her own.

That immediately put me on alert to observe and keep an eye on her, as she is an extremely sensitive one and she also tends to process a lot.

Since that has been the case with her, in terms of needing her own space and time and going through things energetically, I allow her that space and don’t just jump on taking her to a vet just because she needs time to herself. As long as she eats and eliminates, I’m not on major alert, although energetically support what she’s going through best that I can.

Sometimes she, or we all, just need a little quiet time to work through things.

But when I started noticing her having difficulty eating…moving food around in her mouth, rolling it from one side to another, and spitting some out, half chewed…I knew something was up.

And since rabbits can get severe issues with their teeth – since they constantly are growing and can grow the wrong way (up or down into the jaw), can grow points and sharpness if not properly gnawed down through their hay eating, and can develop infections, and abscesses that then affect everything else, especially their delicate digestive systems and GI tracts…this was a red alert for me.

If there was a teeth issue, she’d potentially need dental surgery. And putting a rabbit, let alone an elderly rabbit, under is always sketchy.

So, I watched this for a day and she was able to eat a little, was still eliminating, but since she couldn’t get all of her food in, I got her on her critical care food right away – something to keep on hand if you’re a rabbit guardian, as it provides all the needed nutrients, but is a mixture that looks like ground flax that you combine with water into an apple sauce texture so that they can still eat easily.

We followed the instruction on the back in terms of amount per weight to provide, but later found out we could have given her even more.

And I started calling around to find a rabbit vet in the area.

This took place while we were in Colorado Springs on a Thursday…we were leaving to Golden on Sunday. It also happened to be right before Memorial Day.

So you can imagine I had quite the challenge getting her an appointment. I called about 15 places…half in Colorado Springs, a quarter in Golden, and the rest some ER places.

Every single place was booked until later the next week or had no rabbit doctors on duty at all. I was sent from one place to another each time I called.

In the end, I got an appointment for the following Wednesday in Golden and in the meantime just focused on managing any pain she had with Reiki, pumped her with Echinacea, and fed her the critical care food to see her through. I monitored that she was eating and eliminating, as if any of that stopped, I would have taken her to any ER or vet, regardless of having a rabbit doctor or not, as that would be a dangerous condition that couldn’t wait.

I tried to stay as positive as possible and not fall into any worry spiral that wouldn’t be supportive for her. This may be challenging in times like these, but staying as balanced as possible is the best thing we can do since our animal companions will take on exactly what we’re feeling.

I gave her my crystal rabbit and tortoise statue that are connected with Nestor and Gaia, to provide her tangible support from her dear friends so that she could feel them close while they were helping her energetically from afar.

It’s tough when you are sitting there waiting and feel somewhat helpless, knowing your loved one is going through pain. But it’s a test of having peace within chaos, as we can create different realities with the power of our centeredness.

I was seeing her start to lose her balance and fall a lot, indicating an infection, as well as frantic for food, despite my feeding her the critical care. I noticed her losing weight, but she still was eating and eliminating and still actively doing things like engaging with me and Cosmo and cleaning herself.

Then we left Colorado Springs and got to Golden. I started to see her improve. Her balance returned and she was able to eat her pellets and some veggies again, alongside her critical care.

I made a connection to the much higher than normal radiation in that area that had also affected sensitive mom, feeling much more drained while integrating that energy, as a transmutational process.

Joy is the ultra energy sensitive one and immediately picks up on energies, as well as tries to work with them with all of the powerful gifts she has for the greater good. But like Nestor, her fragile body isn’t always realized since her energy is so big and boundless, and so it doesn’t always support the things her soul are committed to doing.

So either the radiation was the trigger to the challenge, or she had a challenge that the radiation intensified, as her symptoms were also those of one affected by this.

Anyway, we finally made it to her appointment day, thanks to a lot of Reiki support also from a few friends that were sending her some at the same time, and keeping her eating and staying focused on the positive.

Long story short, we met with the female doctor who was very knowledgeable, once again, and we received her prognosis.

She was able to examine her thoroughly, which she remarked on being rare, but Joy allowed her to fully explore her mouth like no other rabbit she’d examined. This identified no issues there.

Phew!

She said her teeth were healthy and beautiful, without points, and the two potential issues of either growing up or down into the gums was not apparent in the easy ways to determine these.

Her heart sounded great, her eyes although blind in one and cataracts in the other were healthy, and nothing else apparent.

But she felt that since I mentioned her losing her balance, that indicated likely an ear infection, which would also cause nausea. In her case, not an outer infection, since the outer ear looked healthy, but rather an inner one.

This can’t be seen except maybe with a high power xray – not recommended for her age since she’d have to be put under for it and doesn’t always show up regardless – and so she felt we should treat the inner ear infection since that was safe and either way would take care of that, and in the interim we decided on a thorough blood testing to run two panels and check on everything including her organs.

In the meantime, we also gave her subcutaneous fluids for her dehydration due to the extreme weight loss, bringing her to only 3 pounds.

That was the sad part, as that nearly week of waiting and not knowing we could give her more critical care, plus her not able to eat other things until the last two days that her ability to do so returned, got her way down in weight.

No doctor would provide info over the phone when I called during our waiting, since they didn’t know her status and that was understandable since they could be liable for misdiagnosing, however also frustrating since there was no outside help.

Makes one turn within and call upon their own resources, which is always a powerful thing.

I was sent home with pain meds for her – the same Cosmo is on – and medication for her infection while we waited on the tests.

This now put us on huge regimes for both bunnies between each of their special needs and regular and special feedings, while I worked on trying to fatten Joy up.

And so, I am basically running a bunny nursing home these days with all that my dear ones are in need of in their older age.

This last vet we visited said she usually tells people that rabbits live until about 8 years old (only because they require specific care and attention that isn’t common out there), so at 10 and 12, she said mine are like 100 and 120 years old.

Ancient ones indeed, but ultimately these two are tough ones and although there are challenges that call for my time and energy, it’s a gift to be able to live out their golden years with them and support them with their paths. I love them with ALL of me.

We were supposed to hear on the blood tests the next day, but somehow Joy’s blood had gotten lost and hidden on a shelf.

The doctor did call once or twice each day to check on Joy, but it wasn’t until he third day that we received the results.

The doctor was not happy at what had happened so not only did she give them a piece of her mind, but gave me a $100 credit back for the mix up, which was unexpected, but very kind of her.

What we learned was twofold.

The first panel indicated things connected to dehydration so that was normal and we had addressed already.

The second panel showed a bit low white and red blood cell counts, which indicated one of two things.

The doctor is focusing on the one which would be association with infection.

The other one could possibly indicate cancer.

She’s not going there nor am I since she’s eating and doing better.

Plus, to put energy and focus there would be as toxic as cancer itself and create a reality that may not otherwise be there or would not support a spontaneous healing if in fact it was this, because we could be feeding it rather than simply seeing her in her wholeness.

So we treat the infection and watch her. If she stops eating or losing more weight we need to look further.

I’m happy to say she continues to eat well and doing all the normal things we’d want her to do.

The only challenge right now is getting her back on her hay, which is good for her teeth and digestion – the only thing rabbits really need in their diet, as the rest is like icing on the cake or yummy indulgences.

Joy has become addicted to her critical care food, which isn’t bad since it has everything nutrient-wise she needs, but to return her back to her regular diet would be good.

She’s eating her pellets, greens, and berries too and no more balance issues present.

So I continue to try and although the doctor said I could cut back on some of her critical care feedings, I also don’t want to starve her when she is still underweight. I tried for a couple of days, but she refused and so I find it more important that she is strong and perhaps will have to find other things for her to chew on if she decides critical care food is the new regime.

But this experience has revealed other things and may have had multiple purposes.

I’ve noticed Joy increasingly opening and being more vulnerable. She has learned from Cosmo about licks of appreciation and messaging. So she gives me tiny licks now and then, which is something new for her and a sweet reflection of her affection.

She continues to lean into Cosmo more, opening her heart so vulnerably to him and showing how much she does really need and enjoy the comfort of his love, which is so heart warming. I often find her not only energetically leaning into him, but physically she exhibits this by letting her weight fall into him, her head hidden in his fur, and simply just wanting to be as close as physically and energetically possible.

All of this is such beautiful expansion for her and learning to feel safe by exposing herself in this way and opening the walls of fear around her heart to letting someone in.

Something mom has learned too, and along with her.

And I also feel this experience has been partly a manifestation of her wanting and needing more nurturing, or at least voicing to me that she’s ready for more again. Whereas she’s always been self sufficient and not wanting to burden me (at least that’s how she would have seen it), she’s asking for help and she’s liking what she sees Cosmo receive with the extra physical attention due to his needs. So I feel she’s wanting some of the same.

That also reflects to me her opening to her own needs of love and self love, rather than just always being of service. Again, great reflections of the same mom has and is going through.

They both continue to keep me focused in the moment and on what’s truly important and of value in life, as those precious moments of caring for them, although can physically ask a lot of me, are true streams of giving and receiving out of pure unconditional love.

They have also taught and continue to teach me so much about rabbits and now to include elderly and special needs care, which may prove as training for the potential vision I have with this in a possible future to come.

They also continue to reflect all of the important things my soul desires to learn, and mirror my personal processes, as well as play out potential realities to spare me of the same, by my learning through their living it out for me so that I can consciously embrace the message. That’s how connected and heart bonded we are.

They continue to help me understand deeper levels and access the information for my writing, as my cocreators and partners in that dance.

And in the times each day where they are snuggled together and I place my head in the middle of them with hands and arms around them, we realize the power of love through the trinity of alchemy we bring together through our hearts.

But it is the looks of complete bliss on their faces, the way these two fragile, but powerful beings lean into me and each other, and the simple tender licks they give and reflect back during our group huddle, that makes me feel invincible, eternally and endlessly flowing in the power of love.